Woman raped at knifepoint in Gaithersburg park

Police seeking public’s help locating suspect

Montgomery County police are searching for a man who raped and sexually assaulted a woman at knifepoint Monday afternoon in a Gaithersburg conservatory park.

The 21-year-old victim was walking near a lake in the Green Farm Conservation Park at 8711 Snouffer School Road yesterday when, just after 5 p.m., she was approached by an unknown man who pulled a knife and sexually assaulted her, said county police spokeswoman Officer Rebecca Innocenti.

Innocenti was unsure how the man had approached the woman, but the sexual assault took place far enough away from the nearest populated place, Hadley Farms community pool, that police were not called until after the victim made her way to a roadway and flagged down a passerby.

“Police responded to an address on Mayhill Drive, but I just know that she was in the area of that lake in the park when [the assault] happened,” Innocenti said. “... There’s the pool and then there’s a line of trees and then the lake, so you would actually have to go through the trees to get to the lake; there’s some land between the pool and the lake where this took place.”

The woman was not injured in the assault but was taken to a local hospital for an examination and for DNA evidence collection, Innocenti said. A county police K-9 unit canvassed the park with negative results, Innocenti added.

The attacker was last seen fleeing the park on foot in the area of Brenish Drive, police said.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Homicide/Sex Section at 240-773-5070. Tipsters can also contact Crime Solvers of Montgomery County toll-free at 866-411-8477 or 240-773-8477. Callers to Crime Solvers may remain anonymous and could be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest in the case.